[GRANITE CITY, IL] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth today toured Chestnut Health Systems, a Granite City opioid treatment facility, and then discussed the disastrous impact the Senate Republican's TrumpCare proposal would have on the facility. The current proposal before the Senate would slash funding for treatment while handing out a huge tax break of more than $25 billion to the pharmaceutical companies that helped create this epidemic in the first place.

"Resolving our nation's opioid crisis requires a comprehensive, fully funded effort from officials at every level of government, and from local community organizations like the Chestnut Health Systems" said Duckworth. "It also requires stopping this harmful TrumpCare proposal that undermines local treatment programs like Chestnut's in order to pay for massive tax breaks for big pharmaceutical companies that profit from the same addictions which are tearing families and communities across Illinois apart."

Duckworth has long worked to address our nation's opioid and heroin epidemic. Duckworth helped introduce the bipartisan Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act (CARA), which was signed into law last year, to expand community-based prevention and treatment efforts to combat addiction to opioids and heroin and help state and local governments fight the opioid crisis in their communities. The law increases access to life-saving drugs such as naloxone through law enforcement and first responders. She also cosponsored the Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act to ensure that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Defense are working to reduce opioid addition amongst our Veterans.